Bulawayo Railway Museum

Bulawayo Railway Museum (established 1972) is a railway museum located at Bulawayo railway station in Zimbabwe that houses several exhibitions on the history of the railway system in Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia. Its oldest exhibits date back to 1897, and include Cecil Rhodes' personal railway coach. The museum is owned by National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ). Due to the severe shortage of rolling stock, some steam locomotives from the museum have, in the past, been refurbished and returned to service. Exhibits Main exhibits are grouped into seven different classes namely: Steam Locomotives Diesel Electric Locomotives Coaches and Saloons Wagons Trolleys Railway Cranes Other Miscellaneous Items Steam Locomotives Lawley. 4-4-0. Falcon Small Class #1. 0-6-0T. 'Rhodesia' Small Class #7. 0-6-0ST. 'Jack Tar' 6th Class #19. 4-8-2T 7th Class. #43. 4-8-0 9A Class. #122. 4-8-0 9B Class. #115. 4-8-0 10th Class. #98. 4-8-0 11th Class. #127. 4-8-2 12th Class. #190. 4-8-2 14th Class. #507. 2-6-2+2-6-2 Garratt 16th Class. #600. 2-8-2+2-8-2 Garratt 19th Class. #330. 4-8-2. Henschel 20th Class. #730. 4-8-2+2-8-4 Garratt 20th Class. #736. 4-8-2+2-8-4 Garratt 20A Class. #740. 4-8-2+2-8-4 Garratt Diesel Electric Locomotives Class DE1. #0106. Davenport. Class DE2. #1200. English Electric. Class DE3. #1314. English Electric. Class DE4. #1407. Brush. Class DE5. #1531. David Poole (Jung). Class DE7. #1708. SGP. Class DE8B. #1837. Sorefame. Class DE8B. #1845. Sorefame. Coaches Dining Car #660. Chimanimani. C6 - Enginemens Caboose #21 Enginemens Caboose #25 Guards Van #89035 C5 - Eye Surgery Coach #1823 C3 - Rhodes Private Saloon C2 - Chaplain's service coach #872 First Class coach #1045. First Class balcony coach #1058. Second Class balcony coach #2024. Goods Wagons Short open wagon (wood) Short Livestock Wagon. (wood). 4 Wheel wooden underframe (Oldbury Rly Carriage Co Ltd.) Short explosives wagon EOZ 134167 Short wooden 'K' wagon. RRKUK 843429 Long Aluminium 'K' wagon. URR KHB Short metal 'K' wagon. URR KOZ Trolleys T3 - used by Engineers to inspect the railway line Victoria Falls Trolley Railway Cranes Booth Bros Crane Ransomes & Rapier Crane Artifacts, Art and Photography There are also a number of items and pieces of art related to the railway industry at the museum. These include pictures of the day the Queen of the United Kingdom visited Rhodesia, pictures of the "white train", a chronicle of Rhodes' death with his furniture in his coach, typewriters, train ticketing machines, train tickets, train passes, train destination boards, models of locomotives and coaches. Buildings There are two key buildings at the Bulawayo Railway Museum. The first one, right by the entrance, is the Shamva Station and the other is the Main Hall which houses many of the special exhibits. Shamva Station This is a typical Rhodesian Railways station building, dismantled and moved from Shamva to the museum to serve as the main reception. It consists of a ticketing office with most of the notice boards and equipment (rain gauge, fire extinguishers, etc) a railway station was expected to have during Rhodesian Railway times. Main Hall This hall was once the mechanical workshop of the Bulawayo station. In it can be found much of the mechanical equipment used there and at the station. There is also a wall of fame of Chief Mechanical Engineers since the start of Rhodesia Railways until 2013. This hall houses the most important exhibits at the Museum. Management and Ownership The Museum was created by Rhodesia Railways and is now owned by National Railways of Zimbabwe. It is managed by Gordon Murray, a retired member of the company. References Further reading African Museums in the Making: Reflections on the Politics of Material and Public Culture in Zimbabwe. Cameroon: Langaa RPCIG. 2015. ISBN 978-9956-792-82-5. External links Unofficial museum homepage Photographs of the museum Friends of the Bulawayo Railway Museum